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Surviving a Stroke - Benefits of Speech Therapy - Colorado Speech Therapy Services
Surviving a stroke is a huge thing, and it can seem insurmountable to get back to 'life as usual'. Unfortunately, that may never happen - there is no magic cure. However, with speech therapy there can be rehabilitation and you can achieve your highest potential.
Returning to everyday life after a stroke can be quite challenging. If there has been speech impairment, regaining normal speech can be a long and frustrating process. Loss of speech, also known as aphasia, affects more than 20% of people who have suffered a stroke. Difficulties can arise with word formation and articulation, the ability to understand speech, and may even affect the ability to read or write.
The main types of aphasia are Broca's aphasia, Wernicke's aphasia and global aphasia. The most common type is Broca's aphasia, named for the person who identified the area of the brain where language is formed. This type of stroke inhibits a person's ability to create and articulate words. The patient may be able to understand others and want to respond vocally, but can't seem to get the words out.
Wernicke's aphasia hampers a patient's ability to understand what others are saying. This is due to damage to the part of the brain that processes verbal input. These people may try to speak but the words often come out random and illogical, even nonsensical.
With global aphasia, which is the third type of aphasia, both areas are damaged, resulting in difficulty communicating and comprehension.
Speech therapy can greatly benefit most individuals afflicted by aphasia. Increasing levels of difficulty are introduced gradually during the course of therapy to allow individuals to attain their highest level of skill. The prognosis is usually quite good when therapy is started early and given priority. This typically means that therapy is started quickly after the initial stroke and the sessions are intense.
Speech therapy usually begins with easy, basic exercises and slowly builds to an increasing level of difficulty until the patient is as fully functioning as possible. Fortunately, speech therapy is quite effective when started immediately and treatments consist of concentrated and focused sessions. In many cases, the patient will regain most, if not all, of their language abilities.
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